The idea that Descartes proposed, "I think, therefore I am" (in the original it sounds like Cogito ergo sum), is a statement that was first uttered a very long time ago, back in the 17th century. Today it is considered a philosophical statement, which is a fundamental element of modern thought, more precisely, Western rationalism. The statement has retained its popularity in the future. Today, the phrase "to think, therefore, to exist" is known to any educated person.
Descartes Thought
Descartes put forward this judgment as the truth, the primary certainty, which cannot be doubted and, therefore, with which it is possible to build a "building" of genuine knowledge. This argument should not be taken as a conclusion of the form "those who exist thinks: I think, and therefore I exist."Its essence, on the contrary, is in self-reliance, evidence of existence as a thinking subject: any mental act (and more broadly, the experience of consciousness, representation, since it is not limited to cogito thinking) reveals the performer, the thinker with a reflective look. This refers to the self-discovery of the subject in the act of consciousness: I think and discover, contemplating this thinking, myself standing behind its contents and acts.
Form options
The variant Cogito ergo sum ("to think, therefore to exist") is not used in Descartes' most significant work, although this formulation is erroneously cited as an argument with reference to the work of 1641. Descartes feared that the wording he used in his early work was open to a different interpretation from the context in which he applied it in his reasoning. At the same time, in an effort to get away from the interpretation that creates only the appearance of a specific logical conclusion, since in fact it implies a direct perception of truth, self-evidence, the author of “I think, therefore, I exist” removes the first part of the above phrase and leaves only “I exist” (“I am”). He writes (Meditation II) that whenever the words "I exist", "I am", or are perceived by the mind, the judgment will be necessarily true.
The usual form of saying, Ego cogito, ergo sum (translated as "I think, therefore I am"), the meaning of which we hope you now understand, appears as an argument in a 1644 work under titled "Principles of Philosophy". It was written by Descartes in Latin. However, this is not the only formulation of the idea "to think, therefore to be". There were others.
Descartes' predecessor, Augustine
Not only Descartes came up with the argument “I think, therefore I am”. Who said the same words? We answer. Long before this thinker, a similar argument was offered by St. Augustine in his polemic with skeptics. It can be found in the book of this thinker called "On the City of God" (11 book, 26). The phrase sounds like this: Si fallor, sum (“If I am wrong, then therefore I exist”).
The difference between the thoughts of Descartes and Augustine
The fundamental difference between Descartes and Augustine, however, lies in the implications, aims, and context of the "think, therefore be" argument.
Augustine begins his thought by stating that people, looking into their own souls, recognize the image of God in themselves, since we exist and know about it, and love our knowledge and being. This philosophical idea corresponds to the so-called threefold nature of God. Augustine develops his point by saying that he is not afraid of any objections to the above-mentioned truths from various academics who might ask: "Are you being deceived?" The thinker would answer that this is why he exists. For one who does not exist cannot be deceived.
Looking into his soul with faith, Augustine as a resultuse of this argument comes to God. Descartes, on the other hand, looks there with doubt and comes to consciousness, the subject, the thinking substance, the main requirement of which is distinctness and clarity. That is, the cogito of the first pacifies, transforming everything in God. The second problematizes everything else. Because, after the truth about one's own existence is gained, one should turn to the conquest of a reality other than the "I", while constantly striving for distinctness and clarity.
Descartes himself noted the differences between his own argument and Augustine's statement in a reply letter to Andreas Colvius.
Hindu parallels "I think, therefore I am"
Who said that such thoughts and ideas were inherent only in Western rationalism? In the East also came to a similar conclusion. According to S. V. Lobanov, a Russian Indologist, this idea of Descartes is one of the fundamental principles of monistic systems in Indian philosophy - Shankara's Advaita Vedanta, as well as Kashmir Shaivism, or Para-Advaita, the most famous representative of which is Abhinavagupta. The scientist believes that this statement is put forward as a primary certainty, around which knowledge can be built, which, in turn, is reliable.
The meaning of this statement
The saying “I think, therefore I am” belongs to Descartes. After him, most philosophers attached great importance to the theory of knowledge, and they were indebted to him forthis to a large extent. This statement makes our consciousness more reliable than even matter. And, in particular, our own mind is more reliable for us than the thinking of others. In any philosophy, which was initiated by Descartes (“I think, therefore I am”), there is a tendency to have subjectivism, as well as to consider matter as the only object that can be known. If it is at all possible to do so by inferring from what we already know about the nature of the mind.
For this 17th-century scientist, the term “thinking” so far only implicitly includes what will later be designated by thinkers as consciousness. But the themes of a future theory are already appearing on the philosophical horizon. In the light of Descartes' explanations, awareness of actions is presented as a hallmark of thinking.
